


For her, I'd do anything

by blahblahbayern



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Angst, Drama, F/M, POV First Person, Zutara
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-03
Updated: 2018-06-03
Packaged: 2019-08-08 22:28:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 578
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16438025
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blahblahbayern/pseuds/blahblahbayern
Summary: After taking lightning for Katara, Zuko gets a warning.





	For her, I'd do anything

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Русский available: [Для неё я готов на всё](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16438997) by [blahblahbayern](https://archiveofourown.org/users/blahblahbayern/pseuds/blahblahbayern)



_I'll show you lightning._

Once I realized the bolt hadn't been aimed at me, the world seemed to stop. Slowly, far too slowly I threw myself in its way. The fear I experienced three years ago in front of my father in the arena was nothing compared to the one that clutched my heart just then. There was no time left to take a proper posture and redirect the lightning — I was scarcely in time to catch it with my chest.

Pain, too much pain. It felt like blood in my veins turned into hot lava; it felt like fire consumed me from the inside. Too late, it hit me that probably my sacrifice wouldn't be enough. Azula always gets whatever she wants and now there's no one to stop her. There's just her — overwhelming power of the comet waiting for the command — and Katara standing in her way. What a fool I was to let Katara follow me!

Lethal power that boils my blood is not so hot, and so I let the freeze embrace me, just like I'm under the ice of the North all over again. Is this the end?

oOo

The place I see doesn't look like the Spirit World, unless of course there is a perfect copy of the Fire Nation palace there. I don't belong here, I'm waited for somewhere else. I don't know where this certainty comes from, but I'm used to trusting my instincts so the very next moment I run through the palace corridors. Are my legs caught in the _Fire Lord_ traditional robes? I have no time to dwell on the thought, for I feel I'm getting close.

My heart flutters as I see Katara sitting in the garden. _Something is wrong, terribly wrong._ The thought is throbbing painfully until I notice that crimson is not a part of her dress, but blood. Her blood. I'm too late.

My limbs do not obey me, but somehow I manage to get to her side. She's gravely injured, she's dying and there's nothing I can do about it. I can see it in her eyes — there's no fight left, just resignation and bitterness.

_Forgive. Me. For. Leaving. You. Alone._

Tears make me blind to the world. Her last words are wrapping my throat like a rope and with silent scream I clutch her lifeless body to my chest. I suffocate. I can't breathe and I don't want to. I can't bare the pain.

Spirits know how long I've been holding her close oblivious to the tall stranger patiently standing in front of me. No, not a stranger — I soon recognize Avatar Roku in a man with gray hair and sad eyes.

"Are you ready to pay such a price for your love, Zuko?"

*oOo*

I open my eyes to see Katara, her eyes red with tears. She's alive. Somehow I'm alive, too.

Roku's words keep echoing in my ears as I thank her with a quiet smile; as I slowly leave the Plaza leaning on her; even as I'm left all to myself. No, I'm not ready to pay such a price. But I'm ready to do whatever it takes for her to live. For her, I'd cut my chest open and tear the heart out of it. For her, I'd jump in front of lightning again if necessary. For her, I'd hide my love and pain behind a mask for no one to see. For her, I'd do anything.

**Author's Note:**

> My attempt to make peace with canon & post-canon


End file.
